Much happier after their visit, Yale had laughed, as he’d tossed him the ball, and said, “For old times’ sake.”
With a shrug, Simon stepped under the rain showerhead and let the hot water slosh over his head and down his back to the tiles below.
As soon as he was dry and dressed in lightweight pants with a linen shirt, perfect for summers in Vancouver, he picked up his blazer, flipped it over his shoulder, and headed out. He needed coffee in a big way, but he also had to escape the solitude of his own thoughts, preferably out in public, where he could disappear into the crowds. He walked off the elevator, crossed the lobby, and headed toward the front door, held open by the doorman.
Once outside, he stopped for a long moment, lifted his head, and sniffed the early morning Vancouver air. The nearby harbor, with that scent of salt, plus the noise and the bustle of city life, all of it melded together beautifully. With a smile he turned and headed toward his favorite coffee shop.
Chapter 2
Kate walked towardthe open room, the bullpen full of desks, singled out her own, and threw herself into her chair, her fingers hitting the keyboard with the same ferocity.
“Wow, bad night?” Owen asked from behind her.
She shrugged, as she logged in to check her email. “Aren’t they all?”
She was the newest member to the division, supposedly worked within an active base team of six—with access to an analyst and two assistants—plus Sergeant Colby Stevens, the head of their team. One of the assistants was out on leave, so the temporary replacement was sinking deeper under the workload each day.
“Thought you went out with your new guy last night?” Owen teased her.
“In your dreams,” she snapped back.
He was the one happily married member of the team, with one boy and one girl, the perfect little family. That alone was enough to get a rise out of her. How the hell did he manage that with this job? She really wanted to know. She barely had time to braid her thick hair each day, keeping it out of her way. Plus he never missed a shift, but yet somehow he was there for all his kids’ special events and birthdays. When he was on the job, he was fully here. Yet it seemed that he gave his all to his family. They were lucky.
Now she had more reason to hate his teasing. She knew he had a huge grin on his face, particularly if he thought he’d gotten a rise out of her. Her love life was a constant joke. Because there wasn’t one. She tried to keep the team out of it, but it was damn near impossible. This is what happened when you worked closely with guys. Two women were in the group, her and Lilliana. And, if ever two women were opposites, it was them.
Kate liked to consider herself a fighting machine, but, in truth, she had to work harder, faster, than anybody else, just to prove herself to the others. She was tall, lean, didn’t give a damn about makeup or looking good. It’s not what she was here for. She was all about the job. Lilliana was one of those pretty women; blonde, coiffed, makeup perfectly applied, always looked good—even though she was a detective. Yet she was as smart as Kate was. Although there was just something about Lilliana that made the guys like her a whole lot more.
Kate could read fast and could digest information quickly, but her real talent lay in solving puzzles. It had taken years of dedication to become a detective. It was a coveted position, and, anytime an opportunity came up, it meant somebody else had retired, quit, or unfortunately died on the job. And that’s what had happened to the detective she replaced. He’d been killed during the investigation of a major crime. It had taken the department six weeks to hire somebody to replace him, and, even now, she felt the disapproval of those around her.
Not so much disapproval because it was her as much as she was someone else.
She would never fill Chet’s seat. It just wasn’t possible. He’d been six-five, a 280-pounder, with a ready laugh. A guy everybody had loved. He’d done his job well and had been on the force twenty-five years. According to the others, he’d wanted to die on the job; he just didn’t want to die ten years early.
“Chet always came in with a smile on his face,” Rodney said from her side.
She winced at that. “And for the one-hundredth time,” she said, without turning around, “I’m not Chet.”
“Is that not the truth?” Lilliana said on a laugh as she walked in. Somehow she always looked put together. Her jeans were high-end, her shirts designer.
It was all Kate could do to arrive clean, as few holes as possible in her jeans and her T-shirt, and no way would she ever show up in heels. She shook her head. Not that they had to wear the same uniform, as if still street cops, but Lilliana had these clothes that somehow made her look like a professional, whereas Kate always felt like she was barely getting the hang of things.
When the phone rang beside her, she just glared at it.
“See? That’s one of the things here,” Rodney said helpfully from beside her. “When the phone on your desk rings, it means somebody is trying to call you.”
She shot him a look, picked it up, and said, “Detective Morgan, what can I do for you?”
It was Audrey, the new clerk out front. “Somebody here to see you.”
“Who is that somebody?” Kate drawled. “Santa Claus?” As Audrey went off on a gale of laughter, Kate pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Oh, I do love your sense of humor,” Audrey said, “but, no, he just came in off the street. He wants to talk to a detective.”
“If he came in off the street,” Kate said carefully, “he’s not looking to talk to me.”
“The sergeant said that anybody new coming off the street was supposed to talk to you first.”
Kate took a long slow breath.Of course he did. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll be there in a minute.” She put the phone down very quietly. Even then, the members of her team all around her were smirking. No way they weren’t, and honestly—if she weren’t the low man on the job—Kate would be too. Still, she would put in her time and do the job. A job she was damn glad to have finally gotten.